Alice Unchained
by The Threat
Summary: A different version of the live-action movie, made to be more of a spin-off to the original animation, rather than an adaptation thereof.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: "Blood: The Last Vampire" is owned by Production I.G. This story is loosely based on the movie owned by Pathé. The character "Lewis" is mine.

* * *

Tokyo, 1970:

Below the city, in the subways, a train was riding. One particular wagon carried only two men. One of them was a local, reading the newspaper, while the other was western, and was pacing around nervously. Every now and then, he shot a look at the Newspaper-man, but looked away almost as quickly. He kept doing this, until one moment, when the Newspaper-man actually looked back. Doing so, the Westerner had no other choice but to keep looking at him. He was told that if he kept staring at them long enough, he'll eventually see... "it", whatever "it" is. The Newspaper-man didn't know what to think of the Westerner. Given Japan's history with the west, it may be the case that the Westerner had the worst of intentions with him. He started to get a panic attack, at which point he got up, slowly, so to not seem too intimidated. But as he had his back turned to him, he heard a clicking sound. The click of a gun. The Newspaper-man didn't need to turn around to know that the Westerner was holding a gun at him. Knowing this, he started to make a run for it. The Westerner shot once, but missed. He ran after the Newspaper-man, shot five more times, but missed each time. The gun he used was a six-shooter, which as the name implied could fire only six bullets. Given that the Newspaper-man already knew the Westerner was there, he won't give him much, if any time to reload. The chase continued, until the Newspaper-man reached a dead end. He turned, only to see that the Westerner was still behind him. The Newspaper-man looked around him. He noticed that one of the train's poles wasn't securely screwed. He pried it loose, and decided to use this iron bar as a weapon. Holding it like an ancient Roman soldier would hold a lance, he charged towards the Westerner, screaming at the top of his lungs. The Westerner, in turn, almost didn't know what to do. Realizing in time that his gun was useless, he stepped aside so the iron bar wouldn't hit him, and in his turn, he managed to punch the Newspaper-man in the face. The latter dropped the bar, which the Westerner then picked up. Still hoping for a last itch efford, the Newspaper-man screamed, ready for attack. However, doing so only gave the Westerner ample time to raise the iron bar and shove it through the man's mouth. The Newspaper-man's back of his head exploded as the bar exited through there, after which the man fell down, his blood slowly leaving his body. Exhausted, the Westerner sank down in the nearest seat he could find.


	2. Chapter 2

After a while, the train stopped at its final destination. Its automated doors opened, which was a sign for the Westerner that he had to get out. When he did, he faced with a group of four westerners. The eldest of them was the one to talk.

"Lewis." he said.

"Michael." the Westerner, Lewis, replied.

Lewis got out of the train. As he did, so did the train's conducter. He shouted something in Japanese, to which the youngest in the group (apart from Lewis) replied something back.

"How did it go?" Michael asked Lewis.

"Not easy." Lewis answered, "Either these guys are faster than bullets, or I hit him at least once but it didn't slow him down."

While they were talking, the remaining three entered the train.

"You should count yourself lucky." Michael continued, "Not many can make it out of this without being mortally wounded or dead."

Lewis looked more terrified at the sound of that: "Wow. I must have been lucky."

"You were indeed." that same person who spoke to the conductor got out of the train, "That ain't no bloodsucker. He's human."

Lewis looked aghast: "Wh... what? It can't be!"

"You can see for yourself." was the response, "You killed a man."

"No!" Lewis insisted, "I looked at his eyes. They were glowing red, like they always do when they get nervous!"

"Are you sure about that?" he continued on.

"He just didn't have enough time to transform, Luke." Michael explained, "That's all."

"How would you know?" the man, henceforth known as Luke, asked, "Were you there?"

"You weren't there to know I made a mistake!" Lewis snapped back.

"So you admit you screwed up." Luke said, to which Lewis didn't know what to say.

Luke turned to Michael: "All of the human race depends on us. Even if it was a bloodsucker like he claimed, since he didn't transform, this is the excuse Red Shield has been looking for not to take this rookie in."

"Hey!" Lewis interrupted, "Wasn't there a trail of bodies this guy left behind? If the trail stops, then it means I was right."

"Except that we won't know that until after a few days." Luke reminded him, "By then, our bosses would already have made their decission about you."

Lewis was almost at a loss for words: "Do you have a problem with me?"

"I just want to do what I'm paid for, and that's saving the human race." Luke replied.

"But with our usual opperative for this on her own assignment, it doesn't leave us with much choice." Michael told Luke, "I'm sure Red Shield will agree."

Lewis was about to say something, but before he could, he couldn't supress a yawn.

"You better return to your hotel and wait until you hear from us again." Michael suggested.

Lewis wanted to say something, but the more recent events had exhausted him too much to even think of the words to say, so he followed Michael's advice.


	3. Chapter 3

Lewis left the subway and entered the foggy streets of Tokyo's outskirts. Here, he saw a dark-blond girl in her late teens, exiting a bar. Back in the USA, there's an age restriction to drinking alcohol, but not in Japan. Still, the sight of that never seized to amaze him. To any American, this would be outrageous. It made Lewis wonder, seeing as Japan seems to be more of a free country than the US was, did they fight the last great war out of jealousy rather than anything else? The thought didn't last very long, as he suddenly saw the girl get into a car. A thought occured to him, that a person who just left a bar and drives after is usually bad news. He kept his eyes fixed on her, looking for signs of her being drunk. She thought about putting on her seatbelt, checking her mirrors, actually looking if it's safe to drive... she seemed too lucid to be drunk. Unfortunately for him, the girl noticed him staring at her. Knowing he couldn't hear her at that distance, she made a few gestures, as if to ask: "What?", to which Lewis just turned and walked away. It's never easy to do the right thing. There's a lesson he learned that night.

Later that night, Muchael visited Lewis' hotel room: "I just got word from our bosses."

"That was quick." Lewis replied, as he let Michael in.

"So was their discussion." Michael said, "The good news is, they decided to let you in our services."

"All right!" Lewis quite nearly exclaimed.

"The bad news it, they believed Luke about that man you killed." Michael added.

"They what?" Lewis couldn't believe it.

"They don't think you're ready to fight any bloodsuckers." Michael explained.

Lewis sighed: "So I'm pretty much useless to them."

"Not exactly." Michael said, "Those twings you saw before, they never fight, but they do a great clean-up job."

"Is that what they want me to do?" Lewis asked, though he sounded like he already knew the answer, "Clean-up after others?"

"No." Michael replied, just as he took a file from under his jacket, "There's someone out there that they want to keep a closer eye on. And they want you to do it."

Michael gave Lewis the file, but Lewis didn't take it into his hands: "They want me to babysit someone?"

"Not just anyone." Michael said, "That man you killed earlier, whether he was or wasn't a bloodsucker doesn't matter anymore, as he's not the only one."

"Yes, I already knew that." Lewis replied.

"Not the only one in this area, I mean." Michael made himself more clear, "And we have reason to think that this person has something to do with it."

Lewis felt like there was something Michael wasn't telling him: "And this person would be...?"

Michael thrust the file into Lewis' hands: "Read it and find out."

With this, Michael decided to leave, but not before adding: "The twins will come by in the morning with fitting clothes for your new assignment."

Having said that, he shut the door behind him as he left.

Lewis wasn't entirely pleased with this, but he had no choice but to go throuwh with this. He opened the file, where he immediately saw a picture of the one he was supposed to look after. Seeing that face, he sighed deeply, as he realized this situation couldn't possibly get any worse.


	4. Chapter 4

Kanto Air Force Base, the next morning:

Having a need for an airbase close enough to Vietnam, the US Air Force had established a base in the Kanto area. Seeing as some of the soldiers sent there have families, sometimes their families join them, creating the necessity of having school buildings inside the base.

Amongst the soldiers was their chief in command, General McKee, who was driving through the base, on his way to his office. Seeing as commanders rarely do anything themselves, he wasn't the one driving, it was his assistant, an air force sergeant, who was steering. This way, the General had ample time to talk to his teenage daughter, who was along with the ride, so they'd drop her off at school, on their way to his office. Unfortunately, the atmosphere inside the car was low, for some reason.

The General, trying to spend what little quality time he could have with his daughter, tried to strike up a conversation: "You know, Frank told me some of the men are having a barbecue this weekend. You wanna join them?"

His daughter sighed deeply: "Dad, I'm a vegetarian, remember?"

The General smirked: "What? You're not gonna give me another rant about how I don't remember anything about you, Alice?"

The daughter, Alice, shrugged. She obviously didn't care.

"Or are you still tired from last night?" he asked.

This time, he got her full attention: "What do you mean?"

"Didn't you take my car?" the General questioned, "Take it for a spin, have a few drinks,..."

"Have you been spying on me?" Alice was angry to hear this.

"Don't have to." he answered, "People know who you are. And people talk."

"What do you want me to do?" Alice questioned, "Apologize?"

"That would be a start, but it won't cut it." the General answered.

"Great, I wasn't going to anyway." Alice said.

"Look..." the General cooled down, "... we're at war. Going out alone puts you at risk."

"Oh, and in here I'm much safer?" Alice asked sarcastically, "If I'm at risk here, then why did you bring me here?"

"Because I want to be sure my daughter's fine while I'm fighting this war!" he shouted, "And I can't do that while you're still home."

"So what? You think you can just order me around like your soldiers?" Alice pushed him a little harder.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" the General had had enough.

"It's always enough when you can't win an argument!" Alice bit back.

The General was aghast: "This isn't about winning!"

"Fine!" Alice exclaimed, "Got better things to do than this father-daughter thing."

"What does that mean?" the General asked.

Before he could continue, the car stopped. The Sergeant stuck his head out of the window, to shout something to whoever it was for whom he had to hit the breaks. This had the General momentarily distracted, but his driver had everything under control, so he could resume his conversation with his daughter. Or he would have, but as soon as he turned back to look his daugther, she had already disappeared. The car-door was left open, so he deduced she sneacked out while he was distracted.


	5. Chapter 5

Inside the school building, Lewis looked around. His job, so far, had required him to wear a suit, most of the time. But being in a school building, he has to look younger than he really was. Since he was still in his twenties, all that was required for him was to wear jeans, a jock T-shirt, sneakers and carry around a backpack, and he looked as if he was in his late teens. Or so he hoped. It's been years since he graduated, so even if he looked acceptably young, his behaviour, as well as his vocabulary would give away that he didn't fit in as much as he should.

"Are you Lewis?" a voice asked.

Lewis turned his head to where the voice came from. He saw a plump man, who judging by his suit and glasses was clearly a teacher.

"General West's son?" the teacher continued.

"Yes." Lewis lied, so to keep his cover.

"Good." the teacher sounded pleased, "I'm Mr. Henry. If you'd please follow me to your next class."

The teacher lead, and Lewis followed. The way that teacher introduced himself made Lewis wonder something: Why do teachers always introduce themselves as "Mr." or "Mrs." as if it's their first name?

In class, the first thing that Henry did was introduce Lewis: "Okay, class, meet Lewis. As some of you may know, Major General West will be visiting this base for a few days, so his son Lewis will be joining our classes for the next few day. Please give him a warm welcome."

Although he told them to welcome him, the students applauded. But that wasn't what bothered Lewis. He looked for an empty seat in the classroom, and when he found the only empty seat, he noticed that that seat was next to a familiar face. That face belonged to the girl he had seen at a bar the night before. It was the girl that everyone else knew as Alice.

"If you'd be so kind to find yourself a seat..." Henry motioned him to take a seat.

Lewis was nervous, but his bosses ordered him to do this, so he had no choice. He walked to the one empty seat. As he sat down, he overheard two girls talking to one another.

"Did you see him?" one asked.

"Yeah." the other whispered in return, "How many times has he been held back?"

"Oh, totally." was the reply, "He looks too old to even be here."

Lewis tried to suppress a sigh as he sat down. He didn't have enough time to blend in, and his cover was already blown.

"What are you doing here?" Alice suddenly asked him.

"The same thing as you." Lewis replied, "Sitting here against my wishes."

"Oh!" one of the two girls really felt it necessary to make a remark about this, "Those two are fighting before they get started."

"Grow up!" Alice bit back at her.

Whether it was wittingly or not, the teacher put a stop to this by speaking: "Okay, so to continue our discussion about Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein',..."

Alice didn't care if class started, she wanted to have this sorted out with Lewis: "What do you want with me?"

Lewis raised an eyebrow. He could answer her question honestly, but that would only ruin what he's trying to accomplish, so he answered: "If you mean about the other night, I just wanted to be sure you were fit to drive."

"I can take care of myself, thank you very much." Alice replied, sarcastically.

"It wasn't you that I was worried about." Lewis added, "Because if there were an accident, most of the time the driver survives, but the ones they hit... not so much. I wouldn't want to be responsible for a death I could have prevented."

Alice snorted: "Who do you think you are? Spider-Man?"

The obvious answer was no, but the more specific answer was too complicated to explain. On the other hand, the question was rhetorical.

"In many ways..." Henry continued, "... Frankenstein creating the monster is similar to when God created the Devil. Why do you think that is?"

A student raised his hand, whom the teacher allowed to answer: "Because much like God, who's good, created the Devil, who's evil, Frankenstein was the good guy, who created the bad guy himself."

Henry cocked his head from left to right, because that wasn't the answer he was looking for: "Okay. Anyone else?"

Henry looked around, and as soon as Lewis was in his sight, he said: "What do you think, Lewis?"

Before Lewis could say anything, one of the two mean girls covered her teeth with her lips, so to pretend to not have any teeth, and with an old man's voice, she said: "I'm sorry, I don't have my teeth in."

Both girls roared in laughter. Lewis ignored them, by answering: "From what I can tell, both the Devil and the creature weren't born as monsters. They were mere victims of their own fathers' ambition, because as soon as God and Frankenstein realized their goals can never be achieved, they neglected their creations. And slowly, and surely, they became the monsters we know them to be."

"In other words, an ego problem." Alice seemed to agree.

"And what makes you say that?" Henry asked her.

"Frankenstein tried to become God, who's thought to be perfect." Alice answered, "But God himself couldn't create a better creature himself. So both of them didn't want to be near the one thing that reminded them of their own imperfection."

"Interesting." Henry said.

"Someone's got daddy issues." the mean girls giggled.

Before anyone could say anything else, Henry continued with his class, speaking loud enough so nobody could say another word.


	6. Chapter 6

One of the many after-school activities at school, that was practiced in the school's gym, was the Japanese martial art of Kendo. Its name literally means "way of the sword", but is practised with a stick for safety reasons. To any other person, this was just another activity, but to Lewis, who had a job to do, he had to be in the gym, keeping an eye on things. Seeing as the ones practicing Kendo were all girls, there was no real surprise in a guy sitting there, watching them in action, so he didn't need to make up a cover-story. On the gym's tribune, he spotted Alice, who merely watched the others practice. Lewis started towards the tribune, deliberately took a seat behind her, where he dropped himself down. It caused a loud enough noise to draw Alice's attention.

Alice turned, annoyed to find him: "What are you doing here?"

"There's something about seeing a girl handling a stick." was Lewis' dry response, without actually looking at her.

Alice cocked her head: "You expect me to believe that?"

This time, Lewis did turn his head to look at her: "Hmm?"

"You've been in every single one of my classes, and now you're here." Alice elaborated, "Where I am."

"Whether I'm in every single one of your classes is not really my fault." Lewis said, and being really annoyed with his job there was no hint of sarcasm in his voice, "So the real question is why are you here?"

"There's something about seeing people being too stupid to handle a stick." Alice answered.

A smile crept up on Lewis' face: "Why aren't you practising with them, then? Show them how it's done?"

"I've never handled a sword before!" Alice answered.

Lewis made a face: "Hence practise."

Alice turned away from him: "I... I just can't do this."

"Why is that?" Lewis asked.

"Why do you care!" Alice asked in return, not looking at him.

Lewis laughed through his nose: "You're the one who started this conversation."

"So I can end it if I wanted to." Alice bit back.

"You could." there was a mock tone to Lewis' voice, "But now you made me too curious."

Alice sighed: "I'm afraid I'll hurt other people, okay?"

"Oh." was Lewis' reaction.

"Oh?" Alice seemed surprised at his nonchalant reaction, enough to actually turn back to look at him.

Lewis shrugged: "Lots of people are afraid of guns for that same reason. Nothing to be ashamed of."

"If only it were that easy." Alice continued, "I remember holding one of my father's swords and..."

Alice stopped there. Lewis knew that if he pushed her then, she would shut down, however if he said something along the lines of "It's alright, you don't have to say it if you don't want to", she'll take that literally and decide not to say anything. So he said and did nothing, letting her do this on her own accord.

"I don't really know what happened." she continued, "I got this flash where I was cutting people with it."

"Why would you want to cut people?" Lewis asked her.

"I don't." Alice explained, "It's just a thought that went through me. I became so afraid, I avoid swords."

"Then why are you here watching other people practise swords?" Lewis didn't quite understand.

"I dunno." Alice replied, and turned away from him. Doing so, she spotted two of the girls that were practising, and she found her reason, "Sharon and Linda."

"Who?" Lewis asked.

"Those girls from before?" Alice reminded him, "Who kept making jokes about you looking older than you really are?"

Lewis could say he is older than they believe him to be, but he simply nodded instead.

"You won't find greater racists in this school." Alice explained, "They hate everything that isn't Aryan. And yet, they practise a Japanese martial art."

Lewis scoffed: "Double standards."

"Exactly." for once Alice genuinely laughed, "Rumor even has it that they killed one of the locals, just to steal his swords."

Lewis didn't think that was funny, which Alice noticed: "It's only a rumor."

"Maybe." Lewis agreed, "But for them to brag about that..."

"I know." Alice agreed, "It's just funny to see them practice this sport, knowing what I know about them."

"A way of getting back at them for being such pains." Lewis deduced.

Alice giggled: "Why are you the only one who understands?"

Lewis shrugged: "I'm just a born cynic."

"Join the club." Alice replied.

What neither one of them realized, was that one of the two girls they were talking about, either Sharon or Linda, noticed them talking, and went on to relay the news to the other one.

"Can you believe that?"

"A general's son and a general's daughter. Match made in heaven."

"How come does she get to have a boyfriend, and I can't even get a guy to buy me a jewel?"

"We should teach her a lesson."

"Word has it she's afraid of swords."

Both of them were thinking the same thing.

"I'll talk to Mr. Powell" this was in reference to their coach.


	7. Chapter 7

After a while, training was over. With this, neither Lewis or Alice had any reason to stay.

"So..." Lewis started, "... got any plans for tonight?"

Alice seemed surprised: "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"No." Lewis replied, too quickly, almost giving her the wrong idea, "I mean... we were just getting started on our conversation, I just thought it would be too bad if it ended already."

Alice looked away, thinking about it: "Well, I suppose it has been a while since I talked like this to anyone."

"Good." Lewis sounded relieved, "Er... I need to use the bathroom, so..."

"I'll wait outside." Alice assured him.

Lewis nodded, and left the gym. Alice was about to follow him, but the sound of the coach's voice stopped her: "Alice, wasn't it?"

Alice turned around: "Yes, Mr. Powell?"

"I've seen you sitting here quite a few times." the coach, Powell, started, "Why aren't you practicing along with everyone else?"

"I'm just not interested in this." Alice explained.

"Now that I don't believe." he said, "If you're not interested, you wouldn't be sitting here at all. Maybe you just need to try it once."

"That's alright, I don't need it." Alice assured him.

"Sharon and Linda volunteered themselves to spar with you already." Powell wouldn't take 'no' for an answer, "You don't want to disappoint them now, do you?"

There seemed to be no way out of this. Alice thought of using the old 'I have someone waiting for me' trick, but she didn't think the coach would fall for that. However, if she waited long enough for Lewis to show up, she'd have more credibility, and she can make her excuse to leave. So for the moment, she humored him.

"Alright." she said, with obvious protest.

"Great." Powell said, after which he turned to the two girls, "She's all yours."

"Yes, Mr. Powell." both girls said in unison, as Powell left the gym.

One of the two talked to the other: "Why won't you keep an eye on her, while I get my stuff from my locker."

The other girl nodded, waited for the former to leave, before she addressed Alice herself: "Say, you might want to need a stick of your own. Let me get you one."

She motioned to Alice to follow her, which she did. At the far corner of the gym, all of the sticks were gathered, and Alice randomly picked one up. Shortly after that, the other girl returned, with what appeared to be two more sticks, both of which wrapped up in a cloth for some reason, and a portable record-player.

"What's that for?" Alice asked, pointing to the record-player.

"Music helps us concentrate." was the answer.

The girls set up the player, put in a record, placed the needle on it as it started turning. As it played the music, the two girls were unwrapping the two other sticks, while Alice said: "Bring it on."

As the two sticks were unwrapped, Alice realized soon enough they weren't sticks at all. They were real swords, which they unsheathed, twirled around, as the two of them surrounded her.

"What are you doing?" Alice tried to make sense out of this.

"We tried so hard to ignore you." one of them answered.

"And you just keep getting on our nerves." the other added.

As they closed in on her, Alice still tried to reason with them: "Are you insane?"

All she received as a reply was a giggle. How could she not have seen that coming? The two freely offering themselves to "spar" with her, the music playing so loudly nobody could hear her, the rumors about stealing swords,...

Lewis, meanwhile, took his time in the bathroom. Schools weren't particularly notorious for their cuisine, so it came as no surprise that the lunch he had didn't quite agree with his intestines. It took him some time, but he eventually recovered, so he could leave the bathroom. As he left, he found two surprises: Alice wasn't waiting for him outside, and music was playing in the gym.

Alice tried to defend herself with the stick, but the girls' swords were sharp enough to cut it into pieces. One sword got dangerously close to cutting Alice. The girl who managed that giggled, but that soon faded as she felt something holding a grip on her wrist. To her astonishment, it was Alice.

"Hey!" the other girl shouted, "You leave her alone!"

She raised her sword, only to strike it down. As she did, Alice pulled the girl's arm in front of her, so the other girl accidentally cut off her arm instead of Alice. This way, Alice had this girl's sword, used it to slice her rib-cage open, upon which, with one swift move, she cut off the other girl's head. Once both of them were down, Alice looked down at what she just did. She just killed two girls. But what was worse, was the fact that she seemed to have no problem doing so, it came out so naturally, as if she had done it before. She looked at her own hands, trying to make sense out of this. In the corner of her eye, she spotted someone. She turned her head to take a closer look, and saw Lewis. There was a look on his face which she couldn't place. It must be the look anyone would have on their face after witnessing a murder. The shock of killing two people, and having her new friend know about this, it all became too much for her, so she fainted.

In a way, Lewis was glad that she fainted, as it would save him a difficult explanation later. He left the gym, looking for a phone. When he found one, he immediately dialed a number. Once someone on the other side picked up, he spoke: "Michael? You better send the twins over... Yes, now!"


	8. Chapter 8

Alice woke up at the sound of a voice. But she was still groggy, so she couldn't get up. Nor could she anything clearly when she opened her eyes. All she saw were three shadows, arguing.

"... for us."

"Us? You mean the world or your bosses?"

Alice couldn't be sure, but that voice sounded like Lewis.

"I had just about enough of your smart mouth! You were supposed to watch her."

"From what he told me, she defended herself. You can't blame her for that."

"No. But it's not up to me to blame her."

"Sure, keep on being their lapdog."

Alice would have laughed, if she knew what Lewis was talking about.

"You're this close to being off the job, so I'd watch that..."

Alice, who still hadn't fully grasped the fact she killed people, and the fact that something else was going on that she wasn't fully aware of, it was too much for her mind to handle, so she allowed herself to pass out again.

"Alice! Alice, wake up!" the sound of her father's voice woke her up.

Alice opened her eyes: "D... dad!"

The General looked surprised: "What's the matter? You're acting like you've seen a ghost."

Alice shifted her head, looking for the bodies of Sharon and Linda, but she didn't see them. Nor did she see a drop of blood that indicated somebody was murdered.

"Where are they?" she asked, "Where are Sharon and Linda?"

The General didn't know what she was talking about: "Alice, I got worried when you didn't come home. I spend most of the night looking for you, until Mr. Powell told me he saw you leave the gym after practice. Guess he was wrong, you just fell asleep here."

"He what?" none of this made any sense to Alice, "No! Mr. Powell told me to spar, and they..."

Alice didn't know how to finish her sentence, as nothing she saw made sense anymore.

"Alice..." her father started, "... did you eat meat during lunch? You know how that gives you nightmares."

Abruptly, Alice got up: "Why don't you ask Lewis? He was there."

"Lewis?" the General didn't know who she was talking about.

"General West's son." Alice added, annoyed, "He's spent classes with us today."

"That's impossible." the General replied, "If his son were to come here, I'd have been briefed."

"Sir!" the General's aid, the Sergeant, called for him, "I just got two girls reported missing."

"Frank." the General turned to the Sergeant, "Do you know anything about General West's son coming here?"

The Sergeant looked surprised: "No, sir."

"Look into it anyway." he ordered him.

"Yes, sir!" he replied.

"Frank!" Alice called for him, "Who's missing?"

The Sergeant had to look at his notes: "Er... Linda Mack and Sharon Klump."

This was beginning to make less sense. Alice's father was trying to make it seem like she dreamed having killed those two girls, but now the same two end up missing. If killing them was only a dream, it would be too much of a coincidence that those same two girls end up missing.

"Do you know them?" the Sergeant asked.

"Do you mind?" the General snapped at him, "She's not well."

"I'm sorry, sir." the Sergeant replied.

"Just go and check what I just told you." he ordered.

"Yessir!" the Sergeant said, hurriedly, before leaving.


	9. Chapter 9

Michael and Luke returned to their hotel, where an old man awaited them. They both recognized him, and after they parked the car, they didn't hesitate to leave it and talk to him. He was an elder man, who held a file in one of his hands.

"How's your prodigy doing?" the elder man asked Michael.

Michael wanted to answer, but Luke beat him to it: "Two girls died under his watch."

"Really?" the elder man didn't sound surprised.

"Died trying to kill our target." Michael corrected him.

"Oh?" the elder was surprised this time, "Was it him?"

"No, the target did it." Luke answered.

"I see." the elder seemed disappointed.

"That doesn't mean anything." Michael reasoned, "Give her some more time, and..."

"Time is one thing we don't have." the elder man said, as he showed them the file he was holding.

Michael took the file into his hands, opened it, and found pictures of dead people in it. All of them were slain brutally, although the means by which it was done was unclear, but some would say it looked like their head exploded. Michael inhaled deeply at the sight of that.

Luke took a quick glance at the pictures: "Looks like she's getting closer."

"Yes." the elder man said, "And from what you told me..."

"It doesn't mean anything." Michael interrupted him.

"You can't know that." the elder man said, "And we don't have time to find out. You know what that means."

Luke nodded: "Right, I'm on my way."

"No!" Michael stopped him, "I'll do it."

Michael ran to the car, got in, turned it on and drove away.

"You better go too." the elder man told Luke, "Make sure it's done."

Luke nodded, upon which he searched for his own car to drive away too.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the mountains, there was a hotel. The man in the lobby was playing Solitaire, when he heard the tapping of a woman's heels, almost masking the sound of a second person's footsteps, entering the building. He stood up, and saw two people. One man wearing sunglasses, and one woman, who wore a large enough hat to cast a shadow over her face.

"Oh! Er..." the man tried to look confident before his costumers, "Would you like to check in?"

"Are there any more guests in this hotel?" the woman asked.

"Er..." the man seemed ashamed, "No, business is a bit slow. I mean, this hotel is built in a thinly populated area, where there aren't many people..."

The man stopped mid-sentence, remembering he shouldn't have said that if he were to impress his costumers.

"Good." the woman whispered, "With nobody else around, less of a chance to be seen."

"Are you a movie star?" the man asked, "If so, you have nothing to worry about, you'll have all the privacy you need, nobody that would..."

As he kept talking, the woman took off one of her gloves, and raised her hand. The man stopped talking as soon as he noticed how the hand looked almost blue, and seemed to lose some of its skin. The woman tilted her head up, so her face became more visible, revealing that her face too looked like it was about to fall apart.

"Thank you." the woman whispered, "You're so kind."

One flick of her hand made the man's head tear itself apart, upon which the body fell down, limply.

"Spread the word." the woman told the man, "Let them know where they can find me."

The man nodded, and left the hotel.

Back at the air force, the General received a call from his Sergeant: "Hello? Frank, whatdya got? What do you mean he doesn't have a son? Then who's this guy that my daughter is talking about? (sigh) Someone's playing a dangerous game here. Alright, keep me posted!"

As he hung up, he heard his daughter's voice: "Dad, what was that?"

"Nothin'." the General answered, "Aren't you supposed to be asleep."

"Dad, you've got to listen to me." Alice begged.

"I've already heard you the first time." the General said, "You were obviously dreaming. Now will just let the adults handle it!"

"Or what?" Alice asked him, "Will you court-martial me?"

"That's enough!" the General insisted, "Will you just go get some sleep!"

That wasn't a request. But even if she wanted to comply his order, she didn't feel like sleeping. As she left his office room, she sneaked out of the house. Seeing as this area wasn't that big, it wasn't difficult for her to find Powell's house. There were still a few lights on, which meant he was still inside. Suddenly, she saw Powell leaving the house and heading towards the base's exit. She couldn't be sure what he was up to, but she was determined to find out.

What Alice didn't realize is that someone else was watching her every move, and as he saw her leaving the base, chasing her coach, he decided to follow her.


	10. Chapter 10

Powell arrived at a bar, which he entered. Alice followed him inside. She saw him talking to the waitress, and it seemed like the type of conversation you don't want to interrupt. But she didn't care, as she approached him. Once she stood within a meter of him, he noticed her. He told the waitress to leave them alone for a moment.

"You lied to me." Alice told him, "You knew Sharon and Linda were gonna hurt me. And you lied to my dad. Why? Why me? What did I do? What do you want from me?"

Powell snickered: "It's all about you, you, you. But what if it's not about you? You ever thought about that?"

Alice was about to say something, but he didn't wait for it, as he continued: "You only see the world that your "father" wants you to see, as he fights his "righteous" war."

Alice noticed the tone he used when he said "father". It was the same sarcastic tone when he said "righteous". Why he'd use that with the latter, she completely understood that, but with "father", that was a mystery.

"But you don't see the real war." Powell continued, "The one that's been going on since the beginning of time, between us, and them. And you..."

He paused for a moment before continuing: "You're just a product of that war. And brought on by your own self-deceiving godliness, you have only made it worse. I don't know what she wants with you, but..."

To Alice, Powell stopped making sense long ago. So her mind drifted off to other things in the bar. It didn't take long until she noticed some kind of growl, that caused her to look around the bar. She noticed how everyone's eyes started glowing red.

"As far as I'm concerned..." Powell continued, causing Alice to look back at him, "... you're just a misfit, that needs taking care of."

Alice screamed, as she saw how his face changed into something else. Something that had sharper teeth, red eyes, and a bigger mouth. It didn't take long before everyone else in the bar looked the same way. Alice screamed louder, but it only made the monsters in the bar angrier. She thought of running to the exit, but the only exit in sight was blocked by the monsters. She took a quick look around, but saw only a staircase. It was better than nothing, so she ran towards it, dodging any and every hand that tried to grasp her. She ran up the stairs, where she reached the upper floor. She ran to the first window she could find, where she climbed out, carefully let herself fall on the ground, after which she started running. She screamed for help, but nobody came. Instead, she only alerted the monsters from the bar of her presence. She ran away from them, only to run into another one of them. He grabbed her arms so she couldn't fight back, and his mouth reached for her neck. A sound of thunder roared through the alley. The monster stood dumbstruck, losing any grip on Alice. The sound was a gunshot, which must've hit the monster, and confused the others. Alice could wriggle her arms out of his grip, and run away, only to find the gunman himself.

"Lewis?" Alice was surprised to see him.

"It's easier when they're standing still." Lewis remarked.

Before Alice could ask what he meant, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her with him as he ran away from the other monsters. On their way, he saw a water pipe. He shot it, creating a hole, from which water-vapor escaped, creating a smokescreen, which blinded the monsters, so Lewis and Alice escaped.

They ran as far ahead of the monsters as they could. As they were running, Alice noticed Lewis had something on his belt. She recognized it immediately, as she had used it herself earlier that day.

"Isn't that...?" she started, but couldn't finish, as Lewis stopped running just as unexpectedly.

"Listen to me." Lewis started, "I have little time to explain, but what I can say is this."

He took off what it was that he was carrying on his belt. It was a Japanese sword. The very same one that Alice used when she killed Sharon and Linda.

Alice was almost speechless: "Wh... what do you... why are you...?"

"Bullets will only slow them down." Lewis explained, as he replaced the empty shell with a new bullet, "Remove their head, destroy their brain, or make them lose a lot of blood in one cut. Only that will kill them."

"But..." Alice still didn't understand.

"You're the only one of us two who has the experience." Lewis said, as he started to look around.

Alice still didn't understand: "What are you talking ab..."

She couldn't finish her sentence, as suddenly one of these monsters jumped her. She didn't know why, but in a reflex she took the sword out and cut the monster's belly. It started bleeding heavily, and the monster stopped moving shortly after.

"Told you." Lewis said.

Before Lewis, another monster was charging towards him. As such, all Lewis had to do was point his gun to its head, and once it was close enough, he could shoot it in the head. Soon, the two of them were surrounded. Whether it was out of reflex, or it was some hidden talent that Alice herself wasn't aware of, she didn't know, but as more of these monsters started charging towards her, she had little to no trouble using her sword against them. Lewis could shoot only five more times and hope that each shot has killed one of them. But once his gun was empty, he had little room to reload, so instead he used the gun to bash some of these monsters' heads. With all the people inside the bar, both customers and employees, being monsters, and the fact that only one of them knew perfectly well what he was doing, yet only one of them was actually good at what she was doing, the fight took a while. But eventually it ended. Lewis and Alice looked at each other. They said nothing, but they both knew what the other was thinking. Before anyone could say anything, the sound of hands clapping together was heard. The turned to the direction where the sound came from. It was Powell, apparently applauding what they just did. Once he had their attention, he growled louder, as smoke started to wrap itself around him. After a few seconds, Powell turned into something that didn't remotely resemble anything human. Still, the mere sight of him, tall, gray, pudding-like muscles, it gave him the appearance of a walking turd. Alice wasn't sure if she should laugh or cry at the sight of him. Lewis, if he knew what Alice was thinking wouldn't blame her. But one thing that everyone would agree upon, is that turds tend to be nasty. As did this gray monster, for it ran towards Lewis and Alice, faster than the other monsters could move. Lewis jumped in front of Alice, but got pushed aside, as the monster grabbed hold of her, somehow grew wings on its back and flew up with her. Alice tried to pry herself out of his arms, but to no avail. As a last ditch effort, she squeezed the monster's arms, very tightly, to a point that she almost pulled a muscle off the arm. This caused such a great pain, it let go of her, letting her fall down. Although she fell down on the roof of a building, the height was still too much for any person to survive. Alice thought she died too, but then she wondered that if she were dead, how could she possibly realize she was dead? As she opened her eyes, she saw the monster descending itself down to her. As it came down, faster and faster, she knew it had very little time to realize its surroundings. Remembering she was still holding a sword, she raised it, so once the monster got close enough, it accidentally impaled itself on her sword. Rather than just take it out, she slashed it through the monster's hip. This way, as Lewis told her, it lost enough blood, killing it almost instantly. As she got up again, Lewis had somehow found his way up on that roof. She looked at him, questions racing through her mind at too fast a speed.

"What's this place called?" he asked her.

Alice cocked her head, not understanding why he asked.

"Look, we can't just leave these dead bodies out in the open." Lewis explained, "They have to be cleaned up. Now tell me what this place is called, so I can tell others."

Alice still hesitated.

"Tell me, and I'll tell you everything you want to know." Lewis compromised, "Alright?"

Alice realized that if she were to get any answers at all, she had no choice but to answer his question. She told him the name of the area, upon which Lewis decided to leave the rooftop to look for the nearest phone. Alice was about to toss aside her sword, but Lewis stopped her.

"You may still need that." he said, "I'd hold on to it if I were you."

Alice was reluctant, but at that moment, Lewis was the only one who made the least bit of sense, so she felt she could trust him enough to hold on to her sword a little while longer.


	11. Chapter 11

Back at the mountains, the deteriorating woman started shaking heavily. In her obvious weak state, some would think she was having a seizure. Her companion ran to her as soon as he saw her.

"Are you alright?" he asked, "What's wrong?"

"She killed so many of my children." she whispered.

"That's awful!" the man exclaimed.

"She's very strong." the woman said, "Stronger than I anticipated."

The man wasn't sure if he should be terrified about her going so lightly over the death of some of his fellow men, or pleased because she was pleased.

Lewis and Alice had returned to the air force base. There, they ran to the infirmary first, cleaning up their wounds. As Lewis promised, he would tell Alice everything she wanted to know, however from the moment she told him where they were, through cleaning up most of their wounds, as she was sitting on one of the infirmary's beds, she hadn't said a word.

"I bet you're wondering why there was no rabbit hole when you entered Wonderland, right?" Lewis said.

Alice looked at him, not sure if she should laugh or cry.

"I'm just guessing, but you have a lot of questions in your mind, you just don't know which one to ask first." Lewis said, "Is that right?"

Reluctantly, Alice nodded.

"How about I tell you who I am first, and we'll built up from there." Lewis suggested, "How does that sound?"

Faster this time, Alice nodded. Lewis sat down next to her on the bed, and began: "If you haven't figured it out already, I'm not really West's son. In truth, I'm working for an agency, who hired me because... well, because they didn't think I was good enough at Quantico."

"Who are you then?" Alice asked, "C.I.A.?"

"More like an off-shoot." Lewis explained, "Among other things, we hunt down people. Well, people like the ones you just saw tonight."

"Those people..." Alice was still shocked about the whole thing, "... What were they?"

"Throughout history, depending on tribes and era's, they've had a lot of names." Lewis answered, "But if you want to use a technical term, they're bloodsuckers. They feed themselves on our blood."

"Why?" Alice didn't understand.

"The same reason we kill other living things." Lewis answered, "To survive."

"But... What do they want with me?" Alice asked.

"Curiosity." Lewis started to sum up, "Sibling rivalry. Claiming the price on your head. I suppose each had their own reason."

"Wait!" Alice got confused, "What do you mean by all that?"

"They can sense how special you are." Lewis continued, "So it makes sense they'd want to know what your blood tastes like."

This was starting to make less sense to Alice: "Special?"

"How far can you remember anything?" Lewis asked her.

Alice didn't know where that question came from, but if it helped making sense out of any of this, she answered: "I can remember being at a carnival when I was eight, eating ice cream with my dad."

"Is that what you remember?" Lewis questioned, "Or is that what you've been imprinted?"

"Lewis... or whatever your real name is..." Alice started.

"Lewis is my real name." Lewis said, "But it's me who should wonder about your real name."

This was where Alice started to lose her patience: "What is it you're trying to tell me?"

"I'm trying to tell you about your mother!" Lewis shouted, hoping she'd calm down.

"My mother?" Alice was more than surprised he brought that up, "My mother died giving birth to me."

"General McKee's wife died giving birth to her daughter." Lewis corrected her, "But you're not that daughter."

Alice got up, upset about the news she just received, but Lewis didn't stop: "That daughter died in a car crash, some three years ago. Which also happened to coincide with the date that an amnesiac was found, which McKee took in, as a replacement for his daughter."

"You're insane!" Alice shouted.

"Then tell me..." Lewis continued, undisturbed, "... have you ever, by whatever means, tasted blood?"

Alice looked more dumbstruck than before, so Lewis explained: "For instance, have you ever eaten a piece of meat that still had some blood..."

"I'm a vegetarian!" Alice interrupted.

"Oh really?" Lewis did seem surprised that time, "Why is that?"

"Because I get nigh..." Alice stopped talking as she realized where he was going. She remembered last time she ate meat, she started seeing things. Horrible things. She dismissed them at the time as nightmares and decided to never eat meat again.

"You understand now, don't you?" Lewis said, sounding as serious as anyone ever could.

"I'm one of them?" Alice asked, pleadingly.

"Not exactly." Lewis answered, "Remember when I talked about sibling rivalry?"

Alice remembered, but she didn't nod or shake her head.

"There is this one bloodsucker." Lewis continued, "One of the oldest, if not thé oldest of them. Some have speculated she was Lilith, from Jewish mythology. But around here, she's known as Onigen."

"What about her?" Alice asked.

"She can turn people into bloodsuckers, much like herself." Lewis explained, "However, as she has to mingle with people in order to feed or turn others, it happens that she would end up making love to humans. At one time, she actually conceived a child. And that child..."

Lewis stopped talking, because he realized, from the look on Alice's face, that she understood.

"I'm her daughter?" Alice sounded as though she had trouble believing this.

"I told you you were special." Lewis continued, "You're one of us, and at the same time you're one of them."

"No!" Alice shouted, "I'm Alice McKee! I'm not a bloodsucker!"

"I never said you were." Lewis said.

"Get out!" Alice shouted, pointing at the door.

Lewis sighed deeply: "Very well."

He got up and turned to leave. But midway his turn, he turned back to her.

"Out!" Alice repeated herself.

"In case you need to talk to someone..." Lewis took out a pen and a piece of paper, scribbled something down and handed the piece of paper to her, "... this is where you'll find me."

Alice didn't want to take it, she didn't even stick out her hand as if she were undecided about it. Lewis shrugged, and laid the piece of paper down on the bed they sat on just seconds before, then left through the door. Alice picked up the piece of paper, fumbled it up and looked for a bin to throw it in. She couldn't find one, so instead she decided to keep it in her pocket until she could find a bin to throw it in.

At Alice's house, the General was sitting in his chair, waiting for his Sergeant to call him. As he waited, he heard a thud.

"Alice?" he called, but nobody answered.

He got out of his chair and ran to Alice's room. He opened the door to her room. The light was out, but with what little he got from the hall's light, he saw a shadow in her room, who held a flashlight. He turned on the light, only to find Luke. He didn't know Luke, but even if he did, he couldn't allow him to be in his daughter's room like that.

"Who are you?" he demanded, "And what are you doing in my daughter's room?"

Luke put away his flashlight: "You know just as well as I do that she's not your daughter."

The General was awestruck. He knew this day would come, he didn't expect it so soon: "Who are you? Her father?"

"Please." Luke replied, "She's old enough to be my grand-daddy's grand-daddy's grandmother."

This made no sense to the General, but Luke didn't plan on explaining that to him: "Look, there are forces at work here you can't begin to understand."

"Yes." the General agreed, "I'm looking at one of them."

"I wasn't talking about me." Luke replied, "I was talking about your daughter. Believe it or not, she's a danger to your base, and to all of humanity. Like it or not, I have to take her awa..."

"I'm not letting you near her!" the General shouted, as he started his attack on Luke. Luke fought back, dodging every attack from the General. The latter at some point had no choice but to take out his gun. Luke tried to hold him off on using it by holding both his arms, but the General was too strong for him. Luke kicked him in his manhood, which by a strange cycle of events, caused him to bow his head down, while at the same time pulling the trigger on his gun, and accidentally shooting himself in the head. Luke dropped the General down, knowing there was nothing else he could do if he wanted to. As he left the room and went into the hallway, he came across Alice. Alice saw the blood on Luke's clothes, and having heard the gunshot earlier, she could draw her own conclusions.

"What have you done?" she demanded.

Instead of answering, Luke took out his own gun. Alice ducked away before he could fire, headbutt him in his stomach, causing him to fall down, dropping his gun, which Alice kicked away. She ran into her room, finding what remained of her father. She held him in her arms, called his name, realizing too late that he was shot in the head, so there was no way he would get up.

Meanwhile, Luke recovered from the headbutt he received, got up, tried to find his gun, followed Alice into her room, only to find her gone, with her window still open. He heard a car starting and leaving, and thought of running to the window to shoot the car, but realized he'd be too late if he did. He left her room, looking for a phone, with which he called headquarters.

"Hello? This is Luke." he spoke to the person on the other end, "I found the girl, but she got away."

There was a pause on the other end, before he advised him: "If our operative did his job right, there may be just one place where she'd run off to."

Luke knew who he meant: "Lewis."


	12. Chapter 12

Back at his hotel room, Lewis was looking at some photographs that Michael gave him.

"You're trying to tell me Onigen's here?" Lewis asked.

"Yes." Michael replied.

"Great." Lewis said, a little more cheerful than usual, "So you'll finally get her."

Michael nodded: "Unfortunately, it means that we have to kill Alice."

Lewis's cheerfulness evaporated: "What?"

"We cannot risk Onigen putting her plans with Alice into action." Michael explained, "The bosses think she has to die."

"What makes them think she'd even side with her?" Lewis wondered, "I've seen her fight those bloodsuckers, I'm sure she's a match for..."

"You've also seen her kill two girls." Michael interrupted.

"That was self-defense!" Lewis shouted.

"And I agree!" Michael didn't like the tone Lewis used, but calmed down, "But Red Shield doesn't. They fear that she will side with the bloodsuckers soon enough."

"Well why don't they spend a whole day with her and see who she really is." Lewis suggested, "You should've seen her when she found out what she really is."

"You've read her file." Michael said, "Before she lost her memory, she killed both people and bloodsuckers. There's no way we could be sure she won't do that again once she remembers everything."

"But she's spent some time with humans now." Lewis reasoned, "Don't you think she would choose to side with us now?"

"It's not up to me, and you know it." Michael said, "Anyway, I thought you just had to know."

"Know?" Lewis realized just how this sounded.

"Know before I carry out the order." Michael answered.

"You're really gonna go through with it!" Lewis couldn't believe it.

"From the start, the order was to assess if she is friendly with people, and kill her if she's not." Michael said, "So unless I know her better, I can't kill her."

Lewis understood what he was saying: "That's a dangerous game you're playing."

Michael said nothing, as he left the room. Once he was gone, Lewis laid himself down on his bed. There was nothing he could do until he heard from Michael again.

Michael left the building and was on his way to his car. Before he got in, he spotted a black car, which he recognized as Luke's. What is he doing here?

Lewis heard footsteps in the corridor, hurrying themselves to his door, only to hear a loud banging on his door. Wondering what that was all about, he got up to open the door. As soon as it opened, he had but a fraction of a second to recognize Alice, as she grabbed his collar, held him up against the wall, tears streaming from her eyes.

"Why did he have to die?" Alice demanded to know.

"Er... who?" Lewis had no idea what she was talking about.

"Don't lie to me!" she shouted.

"I can't give you any answers if I don't know what you're talking about!" Lewis exclaimed.

"He killed my father!" Alice answered, "A man in a suit came and he killed him!"

"What?" Lewis was genuinely surprised.

"Don't act so surprised!" Alice warned him.

A click of a gun was heard. Both Lewis and Alice turned to the direction where it came from.

"Let him go!" Luke demanded as he pointed his gun at Alice.

Slowly, Alice let go of Lewis: "You..."

"Luke?" Lewis was surprised, stepped in front of Alice, stopping her from doing anything, "What are you doing here?"

Alice pushed him away: "Don't stop me! He killed my father!"

Hearing this news was new to Lewis, so he looked infuriated, turned to Luke: "You what?"

"I had no choice." Luke said, "It was either him or me."

Lewis scoffed: "So you defend yourself and that's alright, but she defends herself and she has to die?"

"She's different!" Luke reasoned.

"Meaning what!" Lewis jumped in front of Alice, as though he were a shield.

"Step away." Luke ordered him.

"As I see it, you're no better than the bloodsuckers we hunt." Lewis continued.

"Step away!" Luke repeated himself.

"You'll have to shoot through me." Lewis challenged him.

"My pleasure." Luke took the challenge.

"Our own operative couldn't kill her years ago." Lewis said, "What makes you think you could with only a gun?"

"If I can't kill her, then you don't have to shield her." Luke snickered.

Another click of a gun could be heard, coming from behind Luke. He turned to see Michael.

"What do you think you're doing?" Michael asked.

"Following orders." Luke answered.

"Even if it means killing your own co-workers?" Michael questioned.

"It's called defending humanity by all means necessary." Luke reasoned.

While they were arguing, Lewis turned to Alice. He signaled to her that they'd best get away. Unfortunately, Luke spotted them moving away.

"Hey!" he shouted before firing his gun.

Michael tried to stop him, but the gun fired just as he jumped in front of it. At the sound of the blast, Lewis and Alice turned, only to see Michael falling down, his shirt red with his own blood. Lewis would've shouted an insult to Luke, but the latter readied his gun for another shot. This got Lewis to push Alice to run as fast as she could. They turned around a corner, narrowly escaping another bullet. Around the corner, Lewis stopped. Alice noticed, so she turned to look. Lewis brought his fingers to his lips, signaling her to be silent. As Luke turned around the same corner, Lewis punched his face and took the gun out of his hands. A battle between the two ensued.

"Alice, run!" he told her.

Alice knew she had to run, but she couldn't leave Lewis like this. She had thought of picking up the gun Lewis just took, but she never fired one before. There was only one weapon she could use. Realizing that, she ran as fast as she could.

Outside the hotel, she ran back to her car. There, she picked up her sword. Lewis told her she'd better hang on to it a little longer, and she did. With the sword in her hand, she ran back inside the hotel.

Lewis tried to fight Luke as best as he could, but since Luke was more experienced, he managed sweep the floor with Lewis very fast. Once he was down, Luke picked up his gun.

"Defending a bloodsucker over a person..." Luke said, "... you've betrayed your own kind."

Luke was about to pull the trigger, until a soaring pain went through his arm. He looked at his arm, and noticed that his hand, with which he held his gun, was suddenly cut off. Before he could do anything else, he felt a blade slide through his back. As the blade was taken out, Luke fell down, revealing to Lewis it was Alice who just saved him.

"We'd better get going." Lewis said, as he tried to get up.

Alice noticed he needed help, so she helped him up. Together, they tried to leave the hotel, but Luke, having found some new strength, managed to pick up his gun. Alice heard the click of the gun, turned to see him raise it up.

"Watch out!" she shouted as she pushed Lewis away.

Luke fired a few shots, of which at least two them hit Alice. To her own surprise, she didn't feel anything, but being shot at all would make anyone angry, and Alice was no exception. She raised her sword, ran to Luke, who fired just once more, before Alice slid her blade into Luke's throat, killing him instantly. Lewis, meanwhile, managed to recollect himself. He grabbed Alice's arm, so to take her out of the hotel.

Outside, they ran to Alice's car. Alice was about to take the wheel, but Lewis stopped her.

"I'm sorry, but you're in no shape to drive." Lewis said.

"I feel perfectly fine." Alice insisted.

"For someone who has at least two bullets in her body?" Lewis questioned.

Alice saw his point. Reluctantly, she gave him her keys, and once both of them got in, Lewis started the car and drove away.

"Alright..." Lewis said, "Those same guys who cleaned up those bloodsuckers you killed can clean this up, so the authorities won't be looking for us. But my bosses will. Do you know a place where we can hide?"

Alice thought for a moment: "There's an old cabin in the mountains."

"Where can I find it?" Lewis asked.


	13. Chapter 13

Lewis followed Alice's instructions very closely in order to find this cabin she mentioned. After a long drive, he finally managed to arrive on a dirt road, that would lead to said cabin. When he arrived, he found something old, abandoned, and hasn't been used in years. Lewis had to be sure if this was the right one.

"Is this it?" he asked her.

Given that he was driving the whole time, he had no chance to look at her, so this was the first time he could, and noticed that she had fallen asleep. Or did she? She was shot earlier, which made him realize the bullets finally got the best of her. He felt her pulse, but wasn't sure if what he felt meant anything. His training involved knowing things about human physiology in order to kill, but not in order to save. But he did know that if there's one thing she'd require, it's blood. He searched the back seat, where he found her sword. He took it out, and though hesitantly, he made a small cut in his hand, after which he placed his hand on her mouth, allowing the blood to drip in her mouth. He kept it there for some time, but he realized soon enough that whatever little blood he could spare wouldn't help her. He took his hand off, got out of the car, searched for pieces of wood, placed them together just in front of the cabin's front porch. He thought of doing it inside, but at the state it appeared he thought it too dangerous to venture inside it. In the car's trunk, he found a tank of gasoline, along with a first-aid kit. Typical for military people, always prepared for every eventuality. He poured some of the gasoline on the woods, upon which he shot his own gun on the wood, setting it on fire. After that, as quickly as he could, he helped Alice out of the car, laid her on the front porch, close enough to the fire. Again, he placed his hand on her mouth to let his blood drip into her, while he used some of the first-aid kit's tissues to clean away the blood, making it easier for him to find the bullet wounds. As soon as he found them, he used whatever means he had to take the bullets out of her, hoping this would make her regeneration easier.

What he didn't realize is that the combination of his blood being fed to her, the heat of the fire, and the pain from the bullets being removed, all triggered one specific memory from Alice. She remembered how she was in a seemingly small town, that was surrounded by castle-walls, populated by people in dirty robes,... all of which gave the impression of medieval times. At this time, she was tied to a pole, that was placed on a stake. She was struggling to get free, while others were shouting and chanting things like "she's evil" or "she's with the devil", and similar exclamations. Eventually, a torch was lowered on to the stake, which caught fire. Much like anyone else before her, she should have been terrified, but she wasn't, as if she knew that the fire couldn't kill her. Instead, she waited for it to burn up her ropes, giving the people of the village a scare when she jumped out of the fire, her clothes still on fire, but clearly not killing her. The people behind her attempted execution raised crosses, shouted verses from their holy texts, but all it did was irritate her more than ever. All she had to do was place one hand one each of them, and they too caught fire. Every other villager ran away, scared of her. But Alice wouldn't let them, as she used some of the executioners' crosses as weapons, by throwing them at the villagers, with such a force that they penetrated their skins as though they were knives. One of the villagers had the courage to grab a spear and tried to attack her with it. Alice took a step aside, tripped the spear-man, took his spear and stabbed it into the man's head. This was when the knights made their appearance. They raised their swords, but not one of them made Alice feel in the least bit intimidated. With their heavy armors and Alice's own superhuman speed, they were too slow. They all raised their sword, hoping to strike her down, but she ducked down, rolled between one of the knight's legs, stood up, pushed him down, picked up his sword, with which she decapitated the other knights. Upon their defeat, a woman suddenly appeared before Alice. She saw her, recognized her, and growled in despise. The woman, however smiled, which made Alice only angrier. She raised her sword to decapitate the woman, and the woman, for some strange reason, didn't stop her. As her head got cut off, and her body fell down, something left her. The best way it could be described is a puff of smoke, which somehow allowed for holes through the smoke, as though they were eyes. It engulfed Alice, trying to enter her. Doing, Alice started to feel a terrible headache, followed by the hearing of voices. Any other person, no matter the strength, would have collapsed in terror, but Alice stood firm, clenched her fists and tightened her muscles, and eventually, the puff of smoke had no other option but to leave her body.


	14. Chapter 14

Alice woke up with a loud gasp. This startled Lewis, but as soon as he turned to look, he was relieved to see Alice, sitting up.

"Thank goodness, you're awake." he breathed.

Alice said nothing. She looked down on her body, noticed she had band-aids on her, which she tore away to look at her wounds. To her surprise, despite the blood on the band-aids, there weren't any wounds.

"It worked." Lewis smiled.

"Is that a good thing?" Alice wondered.

This surprised Lewis: "Aren't you happy you survived?"

"But I shouldn't have!" Alice bit back, "I got shot, but I live! I was born in the Middle Ages, and yet I look like I'm old enough for school!"

"Alice, calm down." Lewis tried to reason with her.

"I just found out I'm not human!" Alice snapped at him, "Could you calm down?"

For some reason, this got Lewis to chuckle.

"You think that's funny?" Alice couldn't believe it.

"Sorry." Lewis tried to make a straight face, "It's just that it wouldn't be the first time I heard someone say that."

"What do you mean?" Alice was dumbstruck, "There are others like me?"

"No." was Lewis' answer, "Well, not quite like you."

Alice raised an eyebrow at that, which was enough for Lewis to realize he should get back on the subject: "What I meant was that I heard many people say something along those lines. I'm only human, or it's human to make mistakes, and in your case, and I quote, finding out you're not human. But what does that even mean? To be human?"

This was something that made even less sense to Alice, so Lewis explained: "If you define "human" as something that walks on its hind legs, wears clothes and talks, then those bloodsuckers aren't any more or any less human than we are. If you define being human as a being that's capable of love and won't kill unless it's for survival, than every single living thing on this planet, including the bloodsuckers, are more human than we are."

Alice didn't know what to say to that, but Lewis knew just the thing that would cheer her up: "In the end, Alice, all that really matters, is not what we are, but who we are."

"Alice." Alice said her name with a mock tone, "That's the name of someone that I'm not."

"Of course." Lewis raised his hands apologetically.

"But that's all I really know about myself." Alice continued, "I don't even know who I am anymore."

"Don't you?" Lewis questioned, "Those two girls, who are always mean, you've had a chance to kill them before, but you didn't it until they threatened your life. You did the same with those bloodsuckers back in town. You also had your chances to kill me, if not for lying to you, at least for revealing something to you that you didn't want to know. But did you?"

"What are you saying?" Alice asked.

"I'm saying that you may be a whole lot of things." Lewis answered, "But a killer isn't one of them. From what I've seen, you only killed to survive, you didn't kill for the sake of killing."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Alice said.

"Why's that?" Lewis asked her.

"While I was asleep, I had a dream." Alice answered, "More like a memory. I was about to be burned at the stake, but I escaped, killed everyone in sight."

Lewis didn't see the problem: "If I were in your position, I'd have done the same."

"I know." Alice replied, annoyed, "Kill to survive right? But why was I tied to the stake in the first place? Must be because I did something wrong."

"Depends on your idea of being wrong." Lewis said, "Just thinking differently than anyone else, or just being different than anyone else, was enough a reason to get people burned at the stake. You probably didn't do anything wrong, but you were different than them, and they feared you. That's why they wanted you dead."

Alice looked at him questioningly, as if wondering how he could possibly know any of this, so he explained further: "It's not that uncommon, really. They don't use stakes anymore, but people are still horribly treated, just for being different."

This made a little more sense to Alice, but she still had something else nagging at her: "What about that woman?"

Lewis didn't know who she meant: "What woman?"

"I saw a woman in my memory." Alice explained, "She didn't do anything, but I saw her... I knew her, and I wanted her dead."

Lewis looked away from her, recognizing the woman: "Onigen."

Again, Alice had her quizzical look: "She was my mother?"

"Was being the operative word." Lewis replied.

This sounded strange to Alice: "How did you know I killed her?"

There was a twitch, but Lewis shrugged it off: "I didn't. But based on whatever little information we have on her, we know she once had a body, but that got destroyed. So now she's a sort of ghost that possesses others."

This explained it for Alice: "So that's what she was trying to do."

It was Lewis' turn to look at her questioningly, so Alice explained: "I decapitated her, and then she tried to possess me."

"That confirms what was suspected." Lewis replied, "When she possesses a body, she modifies it so it so she can still use her powers, and feed herself on others to survive. The only problem is that... well let me put it this way: transforming someone into a bloodsucker is quite a bit like being infected with a virus that tried to transform another organism. But since she's an immaterial being that tries to transform a material body, her body is constantly trying to resist it. And although she can live for quite some time in one body, even allow it to live beyond its years, it won't last very long and will eventually deteriorate."

"Why doesn't she just try to possess another bloodsucker?" Alice asked.

"That won't work." Lewis replied, "Their bodies are stronger than a human's, they can easily reject her. But you... you're her daughter. It would be as if she's just re-entering her own body again. And even if that wasn't the case, your body has a better endurance, and will last longer. Perhaps even permanently."

"But she tried it once before and it didn't work." Alice said.

"Only because you knew what you were fighting against." Lewis said, "But by now, she's probably found a way to break through your defenses. Right now even more so, as with your loss of memory you now don't know what you're up against."

Alice now finally understood the danger she was in: "Is that why you searched for me? To protect me?"

Lewis hesitated, but answered eventually: "Not exactly. Given your history, my bosses wanted to be sure if you'd be on the side of us humans. If you were, you'd be used as bait for Onigen. If not, you would have to be killed, so you can't kill others, or be used by her."

Alice was almost speechless to hear him say that, as she now understood what that man back at the hotel wanted from her, and what Lewis had done for her.

"And with you having killed three humans by now, or four if they will blame you for Michael... that older man's death, they're convinced that you should die." Lewis continued.

"But if she's a ghost, how do you plan to kill her?" Alice asked.

"We weren't." Lewis answered, "We'd capture her, put her in a freezer, and keep her from escaping."

Alice sighed: "So now what do we do?"

"Obviously we can't return to H.Q., as they'll shoot you on sight." Lewis said, "However, if we can find Onigen ourselves, what she looks like and where she hides, that would give us some leverage, and help them convince you're on their side."

"Why would I side with the people who killed my father?" Alice questioned, angrily.

"He's not your fa..." Lewis started, but stopped himself, "Anyway, all I said was convince them you're on their side, but that doesn't mean you have to actually side with them."

That sounded like a tempting offer, which Alice considered, but Lewis wasn't finished: "Unfortunately, we know very little about her now. Obviously she's possessing a Japanese woman now, or else she wouldn't have made her reputation as Onigen, but since we're actually in Japan now, that doesn't narrow it down."

Alice was thinking, but not along the same lines as Lewis, as she had just one other question on her mind, which she eventually asked: "How did I lose my memory?"

Lewis looked at her, somewhat annoyed with her interrupting his thoughts, but he realized, if anything, she deserved to know this: "Apparently it wasn't the first time my bosses hunted you down."

Lewis gave Alice some time to let that sink in, before he continued: "They had sent an operative to kill you. Someone who's just as good with swords as you are, and something of a bloodsucker of her own. Not of the same variety as Onigen's, but a bloodsucker none the less. She's usually the one we use against them."

"You have a bloodsucker on your side?" Alice didn't understand.

"I've never met her before, and my bosses act quite strange when talking about her, so I can't tell you any more if I wanted to." Lewis replied, "What I do know is that you two, apparently got involved in a heated battle, that somehow involved crashing a lot of cars, metro-lines, breaking buildings and explosions. If your brains got damaged somewhere along the... ride, it may have damaged your memories as well. While you may be able to regenerate damaged tissue, at a better rate than us, your memories are a different matter."

Alice sighed: "Is there any chance I get them back?"

Lewis shrugged: "Who knows."

This didn't make Alice feel any better. Beat, she laid herself down again and closed her eyes, hoping that all this was just a bad dream that she'll wake up from soon enough.


	15. Chapter 15

The deteriorating woman, known as Onigen, smiled: "She's closing in. The hour is near."

Her companion grinned: "Your plan will finally come to fruition?"

He waited for a response, but Onigen started to shake. She tried to get up, but almost fell out of her chair. Her companion caught her in time and helped her on her chair again.

"Perhaps you should rest." he proposed, "What you'll do next will take too much of your strength already."

"No..." Onigen whispered, "I... must..."

"Let me get her." he suggested, "Which way?"

Onigen understood what he wanted to do, so she pointed into the direction that she's sensing Alice. The companion looked, nodded, upon which he did the same as Powell did once before, just as he left the hotel.

Lewis, having nothing else to do, paced about. He realized something was off about their situation. Her surrogate father was a general, who would rely heavily on protection from the military. As such, he wouldn't have a cabin in the mountains, at least not one this far away from the base. Even if he did, he would be sure it wouldn't be in this unsafe state. Then again, being involved in a war, he wouldn't have had time to rebuilt this. But he wouldn't have had a chance to even look for a cabin either. Did Alice find this herself? If so, when? She was in the US when she got amnesia, so she hasn't been in Japan long enough to know about this. And if she found this during one of her nights out, that too was impossible, as she likely went out without her father's permission. And every teen, no matter how rebellious, would be sure that they don't stay away from home too long, so they wouldn't travel this far out. In short, she couldn't possibly know about this cabin, so how did she? Did she remember having been here before? Back when the cabin was still habitable? Years before she lost her memory? Possibly so. Or was something else going on? If the latter, that would mean their safety was compromised. He had to be sure, so he ran to wake her up. But before he reached her, he heard a noise from above. He looked above, but unfortunately the fire he started made the night sky seem darker. This made him realize he had no time to look for the danger, should there be one, and continued to run to Alice. But just before he arrived, something landed. It was a monster, similar to what Powell looked like earlier that night, when Alice killed him. Lewis raised his gun to shoot the monster. He hit its back, but all it did was annoy the monster. Still, it was enough to get it to turn around and face Lewis. With its eyes locked on him, it didn't notice that the gunshot woke Alice up, so she kicked it in its stomach. It doubled over, allowing Alice to punch its face as well. Once it was down, Alice ran to Lewis.

"Alice, how did you know about this place?" Lewis asked her.

"We don't have time for that!" she said, "I need that sword."

"How did you know about it?" he repeated.

Alice hesitated to answer, as she didn't understand why he'd ask, but she answered anyway: "I don't know. You asked where we could hide, and this cabin came to mind."

"Came to mind?" Lewis questioned, "You mean instinctively?"

"No, like someone told me..." Alice realized the problem.

"It was a trap." Lewis turned his head back to the monster, that was starting to get up, "She wanted you to come here, so she used her powers to get you here."

"Which means she's nearby." Alice understood.

The monster got up again, and was about to attack. Lewis shot his gun again, but much like his first bloodsucker, this one moved too fast, so none of his bullets got him. Fortunately, firing his gun distracted the monster long enough for Alice to grab her sword and attack the monster herself. She tried cutting it up, but this one seemed to know every move she was about to make, almost as if she had fought him before. Lewis noticed, and knowing how his bullets were useless, he decided to try this the old-fashioned way, grabbed a thick branch, used his campfire to light up its tip, and suddenly he had a torch. He tried attacking the monster with it, which created openings for Alice to strike her sword. The monster realized it was at a disadvantage, so it spread out its wings, knocking them both away. It flew up, and raced back to the hotel.

Lewis threw down his torch and tried to put out his fire: "We'd better follow him."

"Think he'll lead us to Onigen?" Alice asked, "But what if it's another trap?"

"It's a risk we'll have to take." Lewis said, as the fire burned out, after which he ran to the car, with Alice following suit.

As they were back on the road, Alice was searching the skies, while Lewis kept his eyes on the road.

"Any luck?" he asked her.

"No." Alice replied, "He's gone."

"Gone?" Lewis started to search the sky himself.

"Watch out!" Alice warned.

In looking up, Lewis lost attention to the road, so he didn't see the man in the middle of the road until it was too late. Instinctively, he turned the wheel, and in so doing hit the nearest tree. As this turned the car into a wreck, it also knocked both Alice and Lewis unconscious. What neither of them knew, was that the man on the road was the monster they fought, who had just changed back into his human form. In this form, he searched the car wreck. He had got Alice, who was the one he was looking for, as well as Lewis, who may be useful soon enough as a snack. He picked both of them up, and carried them back to the hotel.


	16. Chapter 16

Slowly, Lewis opened his eyes. His vision was still a blur, but he could clearly make out there was a table in front of him, where something was laid upon. He raised his hand to rub his eyes. This was when someone else's hand grabbed hold of his throat, raised his body up and held him against the wall. Spooked, and after blinking his eyes a few times, his vision cleared. The table he saw, had Alice lying on it. Plastic wrappings kept her restrained to the table, while duct tape kept her mouth shut. Lewis looked at the hand that held his throat, followed its arm, up to the person to whom it belonged. He didn't recognize the man, but one can assume he was her guard.

"Too soon." a woman's voice spoke.

Lewis turned his head, searching for the woman to whom the voice belonged. From out of the shadows and behind the table, a lady in a white kimono appeared. She made no effort to cover her face or her hands, so Lewis could see the deteriorated state she was in. She didn't look like an old lady that was about to, she looked like a young lady whose body is so far decomposed she shouldn't even be walking.

"Onigen, I presume." Lewis said, trying to sound strong.

The woman, Onigen, smiled: "My reputation precedes me."

Lewis wanted to say something else, but the guard squeezed his throat a little tighter.

"I would love to chat more..." Onigen said, "... but I've been waiting for this for far too long."

She laid her hands on Alice's head, but still had one last thing to say to Lewis: "When this is over, you'll be my new body's first meal."

She kept her hands on the head for a few seconds. Suddenly, as though she were stabbed in the back, Onigen straightened up. This seemed to distract her guard for a second. He kept his eyes fixed on her, only to see her body finally crumbling down, until there was nothing but ash. His eyes were so fixed on what was left of her, he didn't notice until too late that Lewis twisted his arm, forcing him to let go, upon which he got punched in the face. The guard was so infuriated by this, he started to change into his monstrous form. Lewis, not sure of what to do, shifted his head, looking for something. He found a vase, which he picked up and threw at the guard. While transforming, he had little time to react to the vase being thrown at him, so when it hit him, he got disoriented, and his transformation stopped. Since he didn't have his gun, nor could he find anything sharp (the shards from the vase weren't good enough), he had to improvise. He grabbed the guard's head, and started banging it against the wall. After two bangs, it found enough strength to stop Lewis. He punched his stomach, then his face, grabbed his shoulders and threw him to the other side of the room.

What neither one knew, was what has happening inside Alice's head. She found herself in the same village she had been only hours ago, when she was remembering her past. The same castle-like walls, the same wooden carts, the same pole on the same stake, but no people in the near vicinity.

"You remember this, my child?" she heard a voice, turned to see who spoke.

"You remember me?" the woman asked, once Alice found her.

"Onigen?" Alice wasn't sure.

Onigen smiled: "Here you have killed many humans. It was here you also showed how strong you were. You're free to believe me or not, but you made me proud here."

Alice looked disgusted: "What?"

"You're exactly what a mother wants her child to be." Onigen continued, "Strong, independent, and just like her."

"I'll never be just like you!" Alice shouted.

"How can't you be?" Onigen questioned, "You came from me, you are part of me, you..."

"Shut up!" Alice jumped her at that moment.

All it took to stop her was to point her finger at her, which somehow caused a strong wind. Alice tried fighting against it, but to no avail. Onigen moved closer to her, grabbed her hair and pulled her to the pole.

"A child is made with a purpose." she said, "And you're about to fulfill that purpose. You should be proud."

Alice pinched Onigen's arm, which stopped the wind from blowing, giving her an opening to kick Onigen's legs, so she would let go. But Onigen was prepared for this. Her hair suddenly grew longer, twisted and turned itself, wrapping itself around Alice, pulling her to the pole atop the stake, where she got tied to again.

"I hoped you would make this easier." Onigen said, "But if you really want to do this the hard way..."

The stake suddenly lit up and was about to burn Alice. Alice struggled to get free, but unlike her distant past, it wasn't as easy.

"But before you leave..." Onigen hissed, "... I'll let you witness this."

Before them a large rectangle appeared, and much like a in a movie theater, it projected what was going on outside Alice's mind and in the real world.

Lewis tried to get, but it wasn't easy, as being tossed around the room caused him great pain. As he tried, the guard had arrived, and violently picked him up. He raised a fist, ready to strike, just when there was a loud moan. Both Lewis and the guard turned their heads, to see Alice waking up, moaning through the tape on her mouth. The guard snickered, and Lewis didn't understand why. He pushed him away and ran to Alice. He tore the tape off her mouth.

"You alright?" he asked her.

Alice nodded, frightened: "Er... help?"

Lewis shook his head, trying to clear it: "Of course."

He placed his hands on the plastic wrappings, about to start tearing them off, but then he remembered something: Isn't Alice strong enough to help herself? He turned his head to her, questioningly. Alice had this uncharacteristic smile on her face, which was enough for Lewis to realize what was really happening. But he was too late. Alice's arm tore through the wrappings and grabbed Lewis's throat. With all ease, Alice got off the table, the wrappings barely stopping her, pushing Lewis against the wall, while the guard laughed at the sight of it. Alice showed her unusually sharp teeth, as she leaned in closer to Lewis's neck. Lewis thought of reminding her of who she was, but nothing he said would persuade her. He knew, because she told him she didn't know who she was anymore. Can you really persuade someone to change back, if one doesn't know who one was before?

"Well, Wonderland did turn Alice into a monster at the end." Lewis stated, "You've lived up to your name now."

A look of confusion appeared on Alice's face.

Inside her head, however, it was Onigen who made that face. But it was Alice who understood what he was saying. She didn't know who she was, but that statement reminded her of who she didn't want to be. That alone gave her enough strength to break through her hair-ropes, somehow having found the strength to blow the fires of the stake at Onigen. Surprised, Onigen forgot she had the power to put them out at will. It took her a few seconds to realize that, but that was enough for Alice to pick up an axe and slice her up.

Out in the real world, Alice placed her hands on her head, as though trying to force away a headache. In so-doing, she let go of Lewis, who dropped down, having little to no energy left to stand up anymore. After a while, a puff of smoke left Alice's body. As if in battle with itself, it moved about, until it suddenly disappeared. The guard was dumbstruck with this. He said something in his own language, through which he got the attention of Alice, who turned to look at him, menacingly. Seeing her, the guard ran away. Alice snickered, apparently confident she'll find him again, when the need arrives. She then turned to look at Lewis. She noticed how beat up he was, so she started to him. When she was close enough, Lewis could make a coherent sentence.

"Is she gone?" he asked, "Is it over?"

Alice nodded: "Thank you."

Lewis smiled in return. Upon doing so, he passed out. Having had to go through too much stress, and with all the pain of the fights, it became too much for him to stay awake.


	17. Chapter 17

Red Shield H.Q.:

In the debriefing room, Lewis was sitting at a desk, opposite of the elder man that ordered Michael and Luke to kill Alice. Next to the elder man was a gorilla-sized man, his personal bodyguard some would say, and along with the three was a woman with a typewriter, typing down every word that was said, while also responsible for the tape-recorder.

"You do realize..." the elder man spoke, "... that you've put yourself in a difficult position. Yes?"

"How so?" Lewis asked, although he sounded as though he already knew the answer.

"Onigen may be defeated..." the elder man explained, "... but in doing so, two of our agents were killed, along with two innocent civilians..."

"Innocent remains to be seen." Lewis mumbled, though both the elder man and his bodyguard heard it, and particularly the bodyguard had to practice restraints.

"You violated orders..." the man continued.

"No more of that 'end justifies the means' bravado?" Lewis asked, sarcastically.

The bodyguard started to shake visibly, but the elder man continued uninterruptedly: "And you let the target escape."

"And this has nothing to do with being jealous because I actually managed to do something you haven't?" Lewis continued using his sarcastic tone.

The bodyguard had completely lost his patience then: "One more word out of you, and I'll...!"

"Calm down!" the elder man stopped him.

Lewis kept a grin on his face: "If you want to fire me, or at least degrade me to one of the cleaners, don't bother making up excuses."

The elder man kept a straight face, showing neither anger or happiness: "And before you continue to make more accusations, need I remind you that you have no way of knowing if Onigen's really dead?"

"Yes, I do." Lewis said, insisting, "If she wasn't, this conversation would be slightly different. You'd either be talking to the coroner who examined my corpse, or I'd be in chains so I can't drink your blood."

"Or she's smart enough to know we'd be hunting her down if she's still alive." the elder man said.

"Is that what this is?" Lewis questioned, "Are you now looking for excuses to kill her?"

"It looks to me like you've lost all objectivity." the elder man deduced.

"And you haven't?" Lewis wondered.

"She's killed people before." the elder man reminded him, "What's to stop her from doing that again?"

Lewis laughed, which caused the bodyguard to growl: "This kid is trying my patience."

The elder man raised his hand to stop the bodyguard: "What is so funny?"

"If she's an enemy of the human race, I can perfectly understand why." Lewis explained, "It's not that she doesn't want to be friendly with us, it's just that you're giving her too many reasons not to."

The bodyguard's jaw dropped at that, but Lewis wasn't finished: "Who's to say that before she lost her memory that she wasn't disgusted with the fact that she was part of an opportunistic, war-raging race?"

"Of course she's disgusted!" the bodyguard exclaimed, "I wouldn't be part bloodsucker myself!"

"Who said I was talking about bloodsuckers?" Lewis remained relatively calm when he said that.

The bodyguard fell silent, while the elder man was confused about Lewis's words.

"Alice is through with Wonderland." Lewis sounded as though he was warning them, "Now she's exploring the Looking-glass. And for all of our sakes, let's hope she likes what she finds."

**THE END**


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